diff --git a/SpanshRouter/SpanshRouter.py b/SpanshRouter/SpanshRouter.py
index 320215f..3860dfd 100644
--- a/SpanshRouter/SpanshRouter.py
+++ b/SpanshRouter/SpanshRouter.py
@@ -566,11 +566,11 @@ class SpanshRouter():
         version_url = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CMDR-Kiel42/EDMC_SpanshRouter/master/version.json"
         try:
             response = requests.get(version_url, timeout=2)
-
+            new_version = response.content.decode("utf-8") if type(response.content) == bytes else response.content
             if response.status_code == 200:
-                if self.plugin_version != response.content:
+                if self.plugin_version != new_version:
                     self.update_available = True
-                    self.spansh_updater = SpanshUpdater(response.content, self.plugin_dir)
+                    self.spansh_updater = SpanshUpdater(new_version, self.plugin_dir)
 
             else:
                 sys.stderr.write("Could not query latest SpanshRouter version: " + str(response.status_code) + response.text)
diff --git a/SpanshRouter/updater.py b/SpanshRouter/updater.py
index 09ac165..0b55d4c 100644
--- a/SpanshRouter/updater.py
+++ b/SpanshRouter/updater.py
@@ -8,11 +8,7 @@ import json
 class SpanshUpdater():
     def __init__(self, version, plugin_dir):
         self.version = version
-        is_py2 = sys.version[0] == '2'
-        if is_py2:
-            self.zip_name = "EDMC_SpanshRouter_" + version.replace('.', '') + ".zip"
-        else:
-            self.zip_name = "EDMC_SpanshRouter_" + version.decode('utf-8') + ".zip"
+        self.zip_name = "EDMC_SpanshRouter_" + version.replace('.', '') + ".zip"
         self.plugin_dir = plugin_dir
         self.zip_path = os.path.join(self.plugin_dir, self.zip_name)
         self.zip_downloaded = False